


Bête Noire

by MalevolentReverie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on Anon Prompt, Ben is Like Idk 100 in Ghost Years, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Corporeal Ghost, Darkfic, Demon Shenanigans, Demon/Human Relationships, Depression, F/M, Gaslighting, Ghost Sex, Haunting, He's a Ghosty Demon, Heavy Angst, Murder Mystery, POV First Person, POV Rey (Star Wars), Poltergeists, Psychological Horror, Rey is 16, Scary, Suspense, Thriller, spoopy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2020-10-06 20:40:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20513171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalevolentReverie/pseuds/MalevolentReverie
Summary: Rey moves in to a dilapidated farmhouse with her absentee parents. She's used to being alone—but in her new home, she's never alone.DISCONTINUED





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Бет Нуар](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20703329) by [Tersie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tersie/pseuds/Tersie)

> someone sent me this and goddammit.......... it's maybe a ghosty demon story i can stick with

The moment we pulled up to the house, I knew something was wrong with it.

Call it a hunch, call it common sense from the rotting roof and the half-decayed porch, but I knew there was something wrong as soon as dad stopped the car. I raised my eyebrows at stared at the white behemoth complete with a creaky tire swing. Yeah. Didn’t look haunted at all.

Mom got out and tapped on my window, beaming. “Isn’t it beautiful? And we only paid a hundred thousand! Perfect price, nice quiet spot.”

I popped my earbuds free and wound the cord up. For mid-July, the forest around us was awful quiet.

But mom and dad bought the house site unseen for a really low price, just to make the move from our busy city lifestyle a little easier. They were excited and they worked hard to buy it, so I kept my comment about it looking like a scene from _The Conjuring _to myself. I’d find a witch inside.

I climbed out of our old Sportage and squinted at the house through the sun. Two floors, big wraparound porch, and flower boxes that needed serious TLC. Mom would be fine working on it all and I would help her like I always did. Dad was usually too busy at work to worry about fixing stuff at home.

The woods couldn’t be justified for the sheer creepiness. Trees grew thick and close together, blotting out the sun, and I didn’t hear crickets or squirrels or anything running around. I raised my eyebrows and smacked me gum. Yeah, there would be a witch in the basement.

Mom hugged dad, hopping up and down. He laughed and hugged her back and they walked toward the house together, leaving me by the car.

I turned and looked over my shoulder down our winding driveway shaded by trees. We were definitely alone out here, and I didn’t like it.

———

“Rey, honey, can you bring this upstairs for me?”

Most of the boxes were moved in by the end of the day. We didn’t have a ton of belongings and the house seemed to swallow them up.

I took mom’s framed picture of us and brought it up to the side table on the second floor. The stairs creaked and I could see bits of the basement through the cracks, but I rolled my eyes and ignored it. We’d fix the stairs one afternoon. I wouldn’t fall through or anything like that.

Silence stretched across the whole house. The upper floor where the bedrooms were was no different, all dark wood and quiet halls, ominous like something was always waiting around the corner.

But I did what mom asked and hurried back down to the kitchen, which had been remodeled recently and looked pretty nice: stainless steel, a big sink with a window over it, custom cabinets. Mom was in heaven, walking around running her hands all over everything, brown hair in a braid down her back that twirled when she did.

I sat at the island and folded my arms on it. “It’s beautiful, for sure. Nice house.”

Mom beamed. Dad pushed the kitchen table back toward the sliding glass door and leaned away to fix his glasses. I barely ever saw him. He melded in the way dads do, glasses and a gut, always wearing whatever mom set out for him.

Mom worked a lot, too. They had to, but the house would make it easier for them to cut back hours.

“I’m making lasagna,” she said, clasping her hands. “Daddy and I are running out to the grocery store quick. We should be back in an hour or two—but do you mind doing some more unpacking while we’re gone, honey?”

Yes I mind.

I shrugged. “Okay. That’s fine.”

They were busy and I didn’t want to bug them. By now I was used to being alone, anyway.

Alone, maybe a little sad. They didn’t have time for that, either—me being sad and lonely. I’d just dick around on the internet and draw to distract myself.

Mom smiled and took my cheeks in both hands to kiss my forehead. Dad patted my shoulder on his way past and they left not a minute after asking me to stay behind. Did he even check for serial killers in the basement, or did I have to do _everything _myself?

I pocketed my phone and hopped off the chair, padding right to the basement without a flashlight or a weapon. Nothing around. I’d make do.

The lights flicked on at the top of the stairs, which were dusty as hell like I figured they’d be. I sighed and walked down without hesitation, hand drawing along the dusty rail. The light overhead looked about fifteen years too old and didn’t give a whole lot to see by.

Creepy house, creepy basement.

I flicked another switch on the bottom floor, all hard concrete with some cracks, and it illuminated the entire basement. It was mostly empty, just a couple old boxes, a workshop, and a short room for the washer and dryer hookups. No bugs or rats from what I could see; no mysterious holes in the floor.

The weird feeling of being watched followed me while I inspected the basement. I’d learned to ignore it over the years, and after I read an article that said it was a natural phenomenon that happens to everyone. Being alone so much scared me as a kid so I learned all about the root of fear and superstition—just so bumps in the night didn’t scare me so much.

So I ignored the sensation and picked around until I was satisfied. There wasn’t a door out to the backyard, weird for a farmhouse, but it had a window with bars to keep people from breaking in. Safe. That was good, being out in the middle of nowhere.

I walked back upstairs without a second glance. The door swung shut and I locked it behind me.

There wasn’t much else to do except work on setting up my new bedroom. It was three times the size of my old one but that didn’t matter a lot. I never had people over or went to parties or anything—I didn’t even have a sweet sixteen last year.

The space was nice. I definitely needed space.

Mom called to check on me when I was busy setting up my comforter on my new bed. A fancy one: one of those bunks with a desk underneath, where I set up my old laptop and a couple pens I found rolling around the car. Dad got the bed cheap from a friend so I wasn’t sure if it was infested with bed bugs.

“Hey, Rey!” mom said. She laughed at something and cleared her throat. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad. I checked out the basement and I’m just setting up my room now.” I fanned out the comforter and tucked it in under the mattress. “How’s the Whole Foods? Ridiculously expensive?”

“Ugh, you know it. A head of lettuce was six dollars! _Six_! We should start a vegetable garden out back—make some fencing to keep the deer out.”

I laughed and fluffed my pillow. She always talked about a vegetable garden but never did it, like most things she talked about.

“Daddy says keep out of the basement,” mom added. “There might be asbestos or lead paint or something. The attic is really dusty and dirty too, so don’t go up there. He’s going to get to it this weekend.”

No, he wouldn’t. He never did.

“Okay,” I said. I rolled over on my mattress and gazed at the worn white ceiling. They were really tall. Gave me a lot of space. “I’m gonna take a nap. Love you.”

“Love you, too. I’ll get you when we’re home with dinner, baby.”

I hung up and closed my eyes. The space was good. Definitely good. I needed space.

The silence yawned open like an abyss. The house creaked and settled. I swallowed a lump in my throat until I couldn’t anymore, then I rolled over and cried.


	2. Chapter 2

Mom assigned me yard work the next day—just some weeding around the crumbling foundation while she attempted to mow the lawn. I found a pair of work gloves in the shed, only housing _one _spider, and found an outlet for the weedwhacker. Easy.

The push mower had a hard time moving through damp grass but mom was determined to make it work. She kept going, checking the long grass every once in a while for rabbit nests or fawns bedding down. One time dad ran over a rabbit nest. That was _not _a good day.

I peered up at the sky, all overcast like usual, sun hidden behind puffy gray clouds. It could rain. The weather report said it rained a lot here.

Soon I went to work. The lawn mower became background noise as I wandered around the side of the house with the weedwhacker, grimacing at the truly awful state of the foundation. Yikes. It looked ready to slide off and collapse.

The mower grew quieter. I made my way to the far side of the house where the trees came the closest to the siding and it felt like the sound cut off completely, plunging me into eerie silence. My spine prickled and I paused to look around—just in case.

“Come on,” I muttered. I shook my head, gaze lingering on the dark trees and the twisted forest, and shivered. Okay, I didn’t like this side of the house.

The clouds rolled in. Thunder rumbled off in the distance and I looked up toward the far part of the house, where it led up to the driveway.

Something moved in the corner of my eye. Fast.

I whipped around with the weedwhacker brandished, blade turned on again and buzzing. My heart fell right into my stomach even though I wasn’t afraid of anything, and it hammered faster when I realized there was nothing there.

I’d never _seen _anything, just heard bumps and creaks. But I knew I saw something just then. Something.

I swallowed a lump and walked quickly back around the side of the house toward mom. No big deal. I just got spooked. Probably a trick of the light.

She waved when she saw me, already rolling the mower back to the shed. I unplugged the weedwhacker and followed with an icy feeling up my spine like I was being watched.

I glanced over my shoulder. Nothing. The far side of the house still had long swaying grass and weeds I hadn’t cut before I ran away. But the roof cast a dark shadow that melded with the forest, like an abyss, or a tunnel to some awful place.

“Get spooked?” mom teased. She pinched my cheek and laughed, sweeping the red bandana off her head. “It’ll be better when it looks less uninhabited. The last owner said it’s over a hundred years old, you know, built by a schoolteacher at the turn of the century.”

“Cool. Good for him.”

Mom rolled her eyes and closed the shed.

We went back to the house for sandwiches and iced tea as the rain rolled in. Mom wandered off to the living room to watch TV and I didn’t want to impose, so I went upstairs to eat in my bedroom.

There were a couple more months before I had to go back to school, eleventh grade, hopefully better than tenth. I worked on summer homework for my advanced English and history classes, so spending time alone in my bedroom was better for that, anyway.

I sat at my desk and opened up an essay about _Catcher In The Rye_, maybe the worst book I ever read. I could draw instead—maybe the way the trees looked with the rain coming down.

The doorbell rang.

I frowned and hopped up to check but mom was already there opening it for whatever serial killer had cased the house. She smiled and gave a friendly hello, and let a small group of people into the foyer: two guys and a girl, all who looked around my age.

They looked up and saw me on the stairs and I almost turned and ran. I looked terrible: hoodie, leggings, hair up in a sloppy bun, and both of the guys were _hot_. The girl was pretty too, short and kind of pixie-ish. They looked a lot like the popular kids at my old school who pushed me into lockers.

“Look Rey!” mom exclaimed, like I couldn’t see. “This is Rose, and Finn, and Poe! They all go to your school and wanted to come meet you!”

I waved. Great. I looked great for possible friends.

“We heard from Poe’s mom,” Rose offered. “It’s hard moving to a new place so… we figured we’d stop by.”

“Sorry—we should’ve called,” Finn said, laughing, but not in a mean way.

I shrugged and smiled back. “No big deal. Thanks for coming over.” Uh… “Are you guys juniors?”

That started a boring conversation about high school. Mom offered cookies, clearly excited people wanted to be within a ten foot radius of me, and she hovered in the living room doorframe to watch, like I didn’t know how to make smalltalk.

Poe was the jock—he even had a football jacket on and had the curly hair and charming smile to match. Rose and Finn were harder to place, but maybe my usual high school filing system didn’t work for them.

Rose tapped a finger on the island. “Oh, Poe’s mom—she’s a huge gossip so she knows everything—she said you won an award? Like for art?” She slapped a sketch pad down on the island and beamed. “So we have that in common! Not the award but I like painting. Do you paint?

“Don’t talk shit about my mom, Rose,” Poe said, leaning forward and raising his eyebrows.

“_You _do all the time,” Finn retorted before Rose could open her mouth.

They got into an argument for a couple minutes before it came back to the art. She painted a lot of landscapes, kind of dreamy surreal places, and it was _way _better than mine. I drew whatever sparked my interest: trees, people, a shadow on the wall. One shadow on the wall I drew wasn’t too bad and I won an award in a state competition. Mom lost it, I think.

We spent a while talking about school and moving and whatever else. They were nice. It’d be nice to have people to sit with at lunch.

Around dinner time they left. We exchanged phone numbers, Rose texted me as soon as she walked out the door, and I felt a little less depressed about starting school. She said they went swimming at some lake half an hour off, and she’d let me know when they went again. I couldn’t remember the last time I went swimming with a group of friends.

Mom trailed me to the stairs. “Aren’t they nice, Rey? Everyone is so sweet out here!” She touched the banister and hesitated. “So… any plans?”

I shrugged, turning and walking upstairs without looking back. She just wanted me out of the house, as if I ever made a peep.

“Maybe,” I replied. I shrugged again and glanced at my phone. Rose sent a picture of the lake with the bluest water I’d ever seen.

“Okay, honey. Let me know if you need a ride somewhere—or you can take the CRV! Daddy won’t mind if it’s to go hang out with your friends. Do you have condoms? You don’t drink, do you?”

Jesus. I groaned and shook my head to all of it, soon down the hall and back in the safety of my quiet bedroom.

The texting kept going on well into the night, distracting me from my usual touching up essays and drawing random shit. Finn had a whole stash of reaction memes I’d never seen and I spent most of the time shaking my head and smiling while he sent them to every single thing Poe said. First group chat—that was cool.

I had a sneaking suspicion they were fucking with me, but it’d be a lot of effort to go to. Maybe there was nothing else to do out in the—

My lights flickered and suddenly went out. I glanced up, frowning at the old ceiling lamp, and clicked my phone locked so I could check it out. Not too weird for such an old house.

I looked up toward the corner of my room with the closet, just in passing as I was standing, and my heart fell straight through my stomach.

A tall man stood there, plain as day, smiling at me.

Fear I’d never felt lanced through my chest like an ice pick. Holy shit. The room was too dark to make out a lot but he was pale, big, broad shoulders, big nose, _big _biceps. He kept smiling as I froze halfway out of the chair and I saw a weird old-timey three piece suit, and black hair in a ponytail, and I knew I was looking at someone long dead.

I blinked, and he disappeared. The lights came on.

Terrified, I hauled ass out of my bedroom and downstairs, where mom was still watching TV. She frowned when I jumped over the couch to sit next to her and stole a corner of her blanket.

Nausea rose—my skin felt cold, prickly, sick. I shuddered and didn’t look back, because I was terrified he’d be there.

Mom laughed. “What? Scared again?”

She wouldn’t believe me. I knew this fucking house was haunted and the ghost decided to haunt _me_.

“I’m fine,” I lied. I sank down under the blanket. “I’m sleeping down here tonight. The lights are weird in my room.”

“Ugh, really?” She scowled and look over the back of the couch. “The electrical in this place must be all rotted out. I’ll look at it tomorrow morning and see.”

Some of the fear trickled away the longer I sat and watched sitcoms. Dad came home around midnight and went straight up the stairs to sleep, which woke mom and had her following him. She turned off the living room lights and I immediately turned them back on when she was gone.

Maybe I was hallucinating. Stress could do that. Trick of the light.

I shrank down and kept blinking hard to keep my tired eyes open. What if I closed them, and saw him smiling at me again when they opened? Shit. Holy shit. His smile was so eerie; too long, almost slimy.

Clatter from the kitchen woke me as I dozed off around three. I jerked upright in time to see a black shadow zip across the doorframe, followed by more clanging. The same fear came back—there was someone here. Someone dead, but watching me, prowling in my bedroom and kitchen. They weren’t just opening doors and making the floors creak. They wanted to scare me.

Cabinets banged open, lights flickering like crazy. My heart raced so fast I thought I’d faint, and I scrambled off the couch to run upstairs for my parents.

“Holy shit.” Trembling, hands clammy and cold, I backed toward the stairs, too scared to turn and run, scared it might chase me. “Mom—dad?!”

The living room light rattled and died, plunging the house into darkness.

I suddenly felt someone right behind me, a cold presence, and my hair stood up on end. I didn’t move a fucking muscle. I stopped breathing. Like a mouse caught under the paw of a cat, I just froze.

Silence stretched. Then, a soft, satisfied sigh.

“Very good.” The cold pressed in, embracing me gently like the worst hug I’d ever felt. “Stay nice and still, dear.”

The voice was like acid down my neck, deep and predatory. I ripped away from the cold pressure and bolted upstairs, skin crawling, stumbling on my rush to get to my parents’ bedroom. My head spun but I couldn’t begin to sort my thoughts or rationalize what just happened.

They were both still asleep. I climbed into bed with them and mom woke up for a minute to sigh and hug me, but I kept shuddering up until I fell asleep. It felt like I’d never be warm again. It felt like someone slathered my whole body with grease I’d never be able to wash off.

I covered my head with the comforter. I could feel his eyes on me—but if I hid, I didn’t have to confront it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't resist demon imagery forgive me

The bed was empty when I woke up in the morning. No mom, no dad. Nothing.

I slowly sat up, looking around the empty room. Eerie silence hung across the house that didn’t feel… normal. There should’ve been creaks and groans, old beams and stuff settling—rain drumming on the roof that already poured on the deck.

But there was nothing except tense silence.

I crawled out of bed. The old floor groaned under my weight and I winced at the cold, hesitating, listening. Watching for the ghost to appear again.

The quiet stretched on. I glanced toward the glass door and saw it really _was _raining, but I couldn’t hear anything in the bedroom.

My spine prickled, hair raising on the back of my neck. Something was wrong again. This place was fucking haunted and I could feel it in my bones. Haunted, and the ghost watched me from where I couldn’t see.

I swallowed a lump and decided to keep going like nothing was wrong. The floor creaked like he heard my comment in my head about it being too quiet.

Downstairs, the house was still empty, no mom or dad around. I found a note from mom in the kitchen on the island: she went out with her friend and wouldn’t be back until late, but I could make my own dinner, right?

Yeah, I’d make my own fucking dinner, if the ghost didn’t kill me first.

I couldn’t get away, so I kept at pretending to ignore the ghost’s presence. My hands trembled as I went back upstairs to get my sketchbook—because he would want to drive me away from my bedroom. The more I let him scare me, the stronger he’d get.

The door swung open on its own. Slowly.

My heart pounded in my throat as I shuffled inside, eyes flickering around the room to the dark spot in the corner where he popped up last night. Light filtered through the window, casting a glow, but not dispelling the darkness all the way. It hung there, ominous. Threatening.

I walked slowly to my desk. As I picked up my sketchbook, the door slammed shut.

I bolted for it, screaming and pounding on the door, yanking and twisting the handle. My window slammed shut next and the curtains drew with a sharp hiss. The room plunged into darkness.

Someone was _right behind me_. My breathing quickened and I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Why are you running, dear?”

His voice echoed and vibrated in my ear, deep and soft and utterly unsettling. I trembled and dropped my notebook to keep trying the handle. He was right behind me again. Oppressive.

He sighed. Cold curled around me like a hug, taking my breath and raising the hairs on my arms.

“I only want to be your friend.” His voice lowered, right in my ear. “You seem like you could use a friend.”

“I don’t want a friend,” I whispered. “I don’t want a friend.”

He laughed lightly and the cold pressed closer. I couldn’t breathe.

“You’re going to have one.”

Then it disappeared. My door swung open, curtains hissing open, and the window slammed back into place. I scrambled back downstairs and my bedroom door shut again, this time slow and quiet.

I rushed to the front door and the deadbolt swiftly locked. It refused to budge so I ran through the house to the glass door, trying that instead, but the lock twisted and froze. Terrified, I checked all the windows, on the verge of tears as I yanked and struggled to open them.

Then the house went quiet again.

Rain drummed on the roof. I sank down to the floor, wedging myself in the corner with my hands in my hair and my knees drawn up. He couldn’t get me. He was a ghost. He couldn’t get me.

It stayed quiet for a long time before I found the bravery to move. I crawled into the kitchen, afraid to stand upright, trying to find my phone to call mom.

“She’s too busy for you, Rey.”

I spun around and found him in the doorframe, just a big featureless black figure with a big smile. His smile widened as I scrambled backwards across the floor.

“Get away from me!” I hissed. I slipped. He glided across the floor, then took heavy, slow steps. “Get—Get away from me!”

“Where are you going? I only want to be friends.”

The hulking figure kept coming and coming and I screamed and fell flat on my back, shielding my face—

Then something dropped on my stomach.

I squinted down and saw my sketchbook there. Confused, I grabbed it and scooted upright, hugging it and looking around the kitchen. He’d vanished.

“What… What you want?” I croaked.

“I told you: I only want to be friends, Rey.”

The lights flickered and went out. I blinked as the kitchen turned dark from the thick cloud cover and heavy rain—then I saw him standing near the fridge.

He smiled. His clothes were different, now a blue suit and a red tie, and he had his hands in his pockets. His eyes glowed red, but he blinked and it stopped. He just stood there. Staring.

I shuddered. “No you don’t.”

“Yes I do.” He disappeared and reappeared next to the sliding glass door, only a couple feet away from me, back in the three piece suit. “I like your drawings. You’re a very talented girl.”

Thunder rumbled. He kept smiling and I cradled my precious notebook.

“…Thanks,” I muttered.

His form dissipated into dark fog, drifting through the quiet kitchen, circling closer to me. I curled up, pulse racing as the dark formless cloud twirled toward me.

“My name is Ben,” he cooed in a gentle, musical tone. “I know your name is Rey. It’s a very pretty name, I think.”

“…Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome, Rey.”

Cold crept up my legs as the mist wound around them and up to my chest. I shivered and tensed as the notebook was pried from my arms and flipped open on the floor. The pages turned, slow, one by one, moving through my different monochrome drawings.

“They could use a splash of color,” Ben murmured. He corkscrewed slowly away from me and took on a human form again, just a black hole blocking light from the sliding door. He sat cross-legged about two feet away. “Don’t you think?”

I shrugged, staring. “I don’t know. I just like using my pencil.”

His smile appeared first, followed by the shadow creeping back on his face, revealing the human face underneath. It spidered down his neck and clothes and he was dressed like me, jeans and a T-shirt. He had to have been in his thirties when he…

Ben rested his chin in his hand, black eyes traveling to my notebook. The pages resumed flipping.

“I like the landscapes.” He tilted his head and the pages stopped on one of the trees from my window. “So melancholy.”

“I’m not—I’m not _melancholy_.”

His gaze flickered to me. There was no light in his eyes, just endless, deep pupiless black. I shrank back.

His eyebrows raised, imploring. “No?”

“No. I have friends. They were just here yesterday.”

“Yes, I know them.” Ben clenched his jaw, pressing his tongue into his cheek. “Poe Dameron liked throwing rocks through my windows.”

“Poe wouldn’t do that. He seems nice.”

He smiled again. I caught a glimpse of sharp fangs underneath, all long and grouped together like _It_. Instinct screamed at me to run but fear kept me rooted to the spot. Holy shit. Was he really a ghost? Or was he a demon?

“Are… are you a ghost?” I stammered.

Ben clicked his tongue, leaning back to sit up.

“Let’s see.”

He flicked his hand and a knife whistled out of the wooden block near the stove. It flung wildly around the room and I hid under the table, worried for a second it would stab me—but it whipped past and straight into Ben’s forehead with an awful _shunk_.

I shrieked and covered my mouth with both hands, horrified. What the _fuck_?!

No blood came out. He blinked and shuddered, black eyes roaming back to mine, ignoring the knife sticking out of his fucking face. My ears rang. Shit. I was gonna pass out, or throw up, or both.

Ben reached up and ripped the knife straight out. The wound knit shut like long thin roots from a plant, sewing his pale skin together again over a black… _something _underneath it. I’d never seen a ghost do that. Was he a ghost? He couldn’t be a ghost.

He twirled the knife through his long fingers. “It _seems _that I’m a ghost. Shall we investigate further?”

“Oh my god—_no_. No.” I rubbed my forehead and found sweat beading on my skin. “I think I’m going to faint.”

“So soon? I’ve only just started admiring your lovely drawings. I found something in the boxes you’ve left in the attic; a little award of some kind?”

Ben snapped his fingers and a yellow sheet of paper came flying from the living room, rolling up so he could snatch it from the air. He rolled it back open and held it up for me to see, and my chest tightened.

The award—the one I thought mom lost. My mouth went dry as I stared at it and glanced into his eyes, now light brown and gentle like dad’s.

“You’re so _talented_,” Ben whispered. He let the paper go and it rolled up again, falling to the floor. He kept staring at me and leaned forward on his palms, licking his lips, no longer smiling. “But no one has any time for you, do they?”

I pushed into the nearest chair as he slowly came closer. A cold pressure followed and settled right on my chest, making it hard to breathe—

Then, suddenly, he was gone.

Light came back to the kitchen, rain reduced to a quiet drizzle. I sat there in sheer terror for a couple minutes before I found the willpower to run for the front door, determined to just get out while I still could. The deadbolt opened this time.

I ran straight into mom. She gasped and stumbled by hugged me when I burst into tears. Her dress smelled a little like alcohol and she had some shopping bags over her arm; thank god she came home early.

“We have to go!” I pleaded. I looked over my shoulder into the deceptively sunny house. “It’s haunted! There’s this awful man—”

“Rey. Be serious.”

Mom heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes and pushing me aside. I watched her walk into the house with her bags and she kicked the door shut behind her.

I stayed out on the porch alone and stared at the closed door. Even outside the quiet was bizarre and unnatural: no crickets, no peepers. The rain sounded muted like we were in a bubble sealed from the outside. And I guessed we were.

My gaze traveled across the dark forest along the perimeter, heart pounding in my throat. Our driveway led out through thick, towering pines—and I realized we really _were _in a bubble, trapped in a vortex controlled by a malevolent ghost. Or demon.

I blinked and saw him at the curve of the driveway, a hulking black shape, standing in the rain with his hands hanging at his sides and his shoulders slumped. Fear crept up my throat; visceral raw fear of something unnatural and evil. 

Ben tilted his head and the big, fang-filled smile stretched across his shadowy face. He lifted an arm and waved by undulating his long fingers. Just waving. Not moving—not a single step.

I stumbled back into the door and bolted inside, slamming it shut behind me. I swallowed before twisting the lock and throwing the deadbolt, and looked through the curtain shielding the glass right next to the door, just to see if he was gone.

His crooked toothy face grinned back at me, all fangs and black eyes. A scream caught in my throat and I covered my mouth and made a few panicked gasps.

Ben slapped his hand hard on the glass, baring his teeth. “I have _plenty _of time for you, Rey. I have all the time in the fucking world for you.” His nails raked down the door and he laughed, a little hysterical, unstable. “You’ll never be able to shut me out.”

“Rey? What’s going on?”

Mom touched my shoulder from behind and I whipped around, screaming like a fucking banshee. She snapped at me to cut it out and I had to take a bunch of deep, frantic breaths before I stopped shaking.

I looked back and saw Ben was gone.

Mom huffed. “Well, I wanted to give you this. I found it up in the attic last night and was keeping it as a surprise. Told you I didn’t lose it.”

She handed me the award, now rolled up and tied off with a piece of twine, both bows perfectly aligned. I trembled so hard I almost dropped it.

Mom rolled her eyes and walked back to the kitchen, leaving me alone in the foyer. I glanced at the stairs leading up to my bedroom and hurried after her to make lunch. I needed a distraction. I couldn’t pay any attention to Ben.

I threw the award away before I went to work.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE PLOT THICKENS

For the next week I became a prisoner in my own home. I spent most of the time covertly Googling how to exorcise a spirit and the rest of it looking over my shoulder, just waiting for Ben to reappear. He had to be a demon. I needed a damn priest.

Mom and dad went about their lives so I knew he wasn’t bothering them. Just me.

My new friends invited me on a swimming trip the week after, which gave me a chance to leave my haunted house for the day. I packed my stuff and brought extra towels and mom followed me around asking if I needed condoms or extra sunscreen.

“I don’t care if you drink,” she said, “but only do in moderation, okay? And call me if you need me. That Poe boy seems very nice, Rey.”

“Okay!” I snapped. “Thanks!”

Rose beeped from outside. I grabbed my duffel bag and practically ran out the door with mom trailing me, wishing me good luck and telling me to call.

I threw my bag in the back and hopped in the second row next to Poe. Finn turned and smiled and Rose offered me a ‘good morning, Rey!’, and I felt like I belonged for the first time in a long time. 

“You know how to swim, right?” Poe asked. He shrugged and gave me a cheeky grin. “I mean, I can teach you, but I don’t let any of my students wear bathing suits.”

Rose shook her head, waving to my mom as she backed out of the driveway. I reddened and looked out the window instead of at Poe.

And he was there: up in my bedroom window, a black mass, just watching me leave.

“You’re so creepy, dude.”

I blinked and turned back to the conversation in the car. Poe was laughing and shrugging while Finn sighed and shook his head. I smiled a little and settled into my seat. This was good—hanging out with my friends. They had time for me or they wouldn’t have invited me to come.

We drove about half an hour to a state park. I paid for parking and Poe said he’d get lunch, while Rose paid for our admission and Finn offered to get snacks and water. Everyone divvied up the costs like friends do.

The sun stayed out all day; perfect weather for swimming in a cold lake. We set up under some trees and had our snacks and even beer underneath the shade, laughing at jokes Poe told and making sandcastles off the edge of the towels. He hauled me up on his shoulders for a game of chicken and I got to feel his muscles—_lots _of muscles.

By the time the sun had dropped low in the sky, we were all ready for a nap, sun-drowsy and aching from splashing in the water. I laid down and closed my eyes while Rose and Finn twirled around in the water, giggling and kissing each other.

“They’re probably gonna bang out there.”

I glanced up and saw Poe standing over me, dripping water from his curly black hair. He laughed when I frowned and sat next to me. His skin was golden tan and he was in good shape like Finn—probably the first attractive guy who’s paid any attention to me.

I looked out to the other two. Ewww. They wouldn’t really have sex in front of us.

Poe rubbed his chest, shrugging. “Just saying. There’s a rock over there where they disappear to and fuck.”

“…Why?”

“I don’t know. Wet bodies, nice weather. Sex in public is dangerous and fun.”

On cue, Finn carried Rose in slow corkscrews through the dark water, kissing her neck as they vanished around an outcropping together. My cheeks burned.

“Cool,” I muttered. I sat up and cleared my throat. “Well I’ll start getting things together.”

“They won’t be back for a while.”

Poe’s dark eyes stayed on me. He smiled, not in a creepy way but a suggestive one, and I got even redder. I mean, he wasn’t ugly by any means, and I didn’t mind messing around, but I didn’t want anyone to catch us. And I didn’t know him well.

I distracted myself collecting all our bottles of sunscreen. I’d never had a a boy pay attention to me like this and didn’t know what to make of it.

But Poe didn’t push. He just laughed and helped me with the empty water bottles scattered around, much to my relief. I didn’t know if I’d be able to _say _no. I didn’t want him to not like me.

“Just a thought,” he teased. “Think it over, babe.”

Finn and Rose came back a bit later, suspiciously giggling to each other. Poe rolled his eyes and made a crude joke that got him a punch in the arm from Rose.

After that we went out for lunch to Taco Bell. We bought two twelve packs of tacos and ate every single one, and I drank two sodas. I kept thanking Poe over and over again and he just smiled and shrugged, draped in the chair next to me.

“You’ll make it up to me,” he said.

Rose groaned, shaking her head and chewing, and threw an ice cube at his face.

“Rey doesn’t want to fuck you, Poe!” she snapped. She looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Do you want to sleep with him, Rey?”

I blinked. Shrugged.

Poe grinned and went for a high-five with Finn that wasn’t returned. Rose sighed but smiled at me.

She brought me home after our late lunch. I waved goodbye until they disappeared down the driveway, leaving me alone in front of the farmhouse. Mom and dad both weren’t home.

The trees rustled. Out here I felt exposed, so I headed inside with a heavy heart.

Everything was quiet. I shut the front door and locked it before making my way upstairs for a shower. Ben hadn’t bothered me in a week. I should be safe.

Or I could keep telling myself that.

I threw the towels in for a wash and carefully set away my can of sunscreen. My heart pattered as I peeled off my wet T-shirt, still damp with lake water, and started the shower. I couldn’t not shower. That’d get disgusting in about five days.

So I hopped in and scrubbed myself clean in record time. I whistled the whole time like I wasn’t terrified, and tried not to run out of the bathroom after. He had to know I wasn’t scared of him.

Back in my bedroom, I changed into comfier clothes before I laid down for a nap. My body really did ache from all the swimming but the excitement from Poe smirking at me had my head still spinning. Rose would steer me the right way on that.

I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling. Today was the most fun I had in years.

“…Rey?”

My head snapped around to find Ben standing near my closet door. He smiled and waved.

I threw my stuffed rabbit across the room at his face. It passed straight through and hit the wall but I was already up and running, swearing. Holy shit holy shit holy _shit_—

“Wait—I want to talk!”

Hell no!

I rushed downstairs to the front door and tried it, but the handle wouldn’t turn. Terrified, I spun around to try the back door, but found I bumped straight into my pursuer, who had his hands out defensively.

He changed into more modern clothes: jeans and a sweater, not at all appropriate for the middle of summer. I flung my back against the front door and kept desperately yanking on the handle behind me.

Ben stayed where he was. “Look, I wanted to talk! I’m Ben—you’ve been seeing the demon who lives here!”

“Get away from me!” I shrieked. “Get away from me!”

“His name is Kylo and he takes my form,” Ben continued, rushed. He kept waving his hands and shaking his head. “I don’t want to hurt you! He’s only active during a full moon—”

I bolted past him through the living room and around to the kitchen. He reappeared near the island when I tried the back door, so I ran upstairs again to my bedroom and threw the door shut.

“—And he manifests leading up to the full moon.”

Ben didn’t skip a beat. He stayed in the corner and winced when I threw a pen at his face that clattered against the wall instead.

I backed away. “You! You’re a liar!”

“I know you’re scared, but it’s the truth. That’s why he hasn’t been around. He loses strength as the moon disappears and then _I _can come back.”

We stood there for a minute, me glaring and ready to throw something else that wouldn’t hurt him. Ben winced and tried to smile again as time wore on and he thought I was coming around. He acted a lot different than… other Ben, but it could be a bait and switch. A trap.

I swallowed, trembling. “Then what do _you _want?”

Ben blinked and shook his head. He leaned back, running a hand through short black hair cut to his ears. He had soft brown eyes.

“Uh… nothing,” he said. His form faded a little, letting the color from the wall bleed through. “I just wanted you to know, so you weren’t scared.”

“Yeah? So you just let him torment me and sat by and didn’t do anything?” I balled my fists. This Ben wasn’t nearly as scary as Kylo. “What’s your problem? Who are you, anyway? Do _you _own this house?”

His brown eyes flickered up to the ceiling. His body glowed translucent for a second.

“Teacher,” he said quickly, “turn of the last century. I built this house. I taught kids at the old red schoolhouse in the woods at the edge of town.” His shape wavered again and he got a nervous look. “I’ll be able to stay longer when the moon fades more.”

“I’ve never heard of a ghost that has to use the moon to stick around. Don’t they use electricity?”

“Both—both, together.” Ben disappeared for a couple moments. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? Just meet me here. I’ll explain more.”

Then he vanished, leaving me alone in my bedroom.

I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the corner where he’d just been standing. Rose and Poe already texted me to see if I wanted to go to the mall tomorrow, and I did, but… I wanted to know more about what was going on in my new home.

I could hang out with them after. One more ghostly encounter wouldn’t kill me.


	5. Chapter 5

Waiting to talk to the ghost harassing me _seemed _stupid, but I didn’t have many other options. Mom and dad wouldn’t fund an exorcism. Probably.

So I waited in my bedroom for Ben to make his grand appearance. Kylo hadn’t appeared in days so maybe there was some truth to Ben’s assertion that they were two different people. Kylo could be a demon taking on Ben’s looks.

Could be. Wasn’t sure if I believed that yet.

The shadows wavered against the opposite wall. I clenched my jaw as Ben manifested in the darkness, dressed in modern clothes and sharper than he was the night before. He heaved a sigh and waved like we were old friends meeting for lunch.

I glared. “Who are you?”

He drifted to my desk chair, not quite walking but not exactly floating. I shivered as he sat. Two ghosts in this awful farm house.

Ben knitted his fingers in his lap. “Well, I’m Ben Solo, and I built this house over a hundred years ago.” He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“And who is Kylo?”

“Not totally sure. I think one of the tenants in the past few centuries brought him in.”

“And you… you’ve been living here since you died?”

Ben nodded. “Yes. Consumption, when I was thirty.”

“Excuse me?”

“Consumption—tuberculosis. That’s how I died.” He shrugged, looking around my room. “Don’t worry; it’s long gone by now.”

Eeugh. I had to get a TB titer for my first job. Gross stuff. Bad way to die.

Sitting and chatting with a hundred year old ghost in my bedroom was as awkward as I thought it would be. Ben leaned back in my chair and rested his temple on his fist, not nearly as uncomfortable.

He looked just like Kylo, but healthier and younger. Maybe Kylo really had copied his appearance.

Ben smiled. “I used to teach little kids. Elementary school, just a small group of them from the town. I’m not used to teenagers.”

“Oh.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “The old red building on the other side of town?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“That’s being restored. It has a placard and everything.”

“Well that’s nice,” Ben murmured. He picked along my desk, but everything passed through his hands. “I don’t get out much. Can’t go too far from the house or I’ll disseminate, but I come right back. Attached, I guess. Dog on a leash.”

In all the ghost shows I’d seen, no one got to sit down and talk to one. If he wasn’t passing through everything he tried to touch I would assume he was still alive. He _looked _alive; much healthier than Kylo.

Nice clothes, too: a sweater and jeans, like he just walked out of a Macy’s or something. He had to copy the style of people who lived in the house.

“So, you use electricity to… do this?” I asked.

Ben shrugged. “Yeah, and the moon has something to do with it. Thunderstorms it’s easy, especially when the moon is covered. It burns.”

“But Kylo uses the moon to manifest?”

“He does. Reflection of the sun…” Ben studied my calendar hanging on the wall. “Demon stuff, I guess. We usually miss each other but some months we cross paths and he picks a fight.”

“Really? Why?”

He glanced at me again, raising his eyebrows.

“Demons don’t like sharing, Rey.”

We lapsed into silence, mostly because I didn’t know what else to say. I twiddled my thumbs and avoided his soft brown eyes and wondered if this counted as having a boy in my room.

I coughed. “I feel like I should ask more—for science and stuff.”

Ben laughed and I peered at him. His form was already disappearing.

“I’ll be around more as the moon fades,” he assured. His smile widened and my heart skipped a beat. “We can talk as much as you want.”

“…Okay. I mean, I’m out with my friends sometimes, but that would be cool. I’ll think of more questions.”

“Great.” His face faded first but left his smile hovering behind like the Cheshire Cat. “I’ll think of answers.”

Then he disappeared completely and I was left alone in my bedroom.

I stared at the chair for a bit before getting up. Ben and Kylo were polar opposites, and I didn’t mind Ben at all. He wasn’t scary. At all.

• • •

Poe texted me the next day asking if I wanted to go get pizza at the mall. I went, because I needed to get out of the house and away from ghosts and demons for a while, and mom lost her mind.

She followed and fretted until Poe picked me up. Then she texted me, fretting even more, so I blocked her number for just the afternoon.

Rose and Finn met up with us for a movie. It was a nice day altogether but my thoughts kept wandering back to Ben and Kylo and what was going on in my new house. Something weird for sure… I’d have to do more research.

Could Ben only appear at night? He did during the afternoon but the sun had started setting. Did the sun affect ghosts? Kylo appeared at night a lot.

“Rey?”

I blinked. The movie had ended and everyone watched me with a mix of confusion and concern, standing as the lights came on.

I cleared my throat and stood. “Sorry. Spacing out.”

We left the theater, Poe laughing at some joke with Finn, Rose already planning another outing to the lake. I finally made friends; nice friends.

So why did I feel so lonely?

• • •

The sky opened up that night, pouring rain and trapping me in the house with mom and dad. They settled in on the couch with wine so I went upstairs to stay out of the way like I always did.

My door creaked open on its own, slow, but less ominous than in the past—more like an invitation. I hesitated before peering inside.

Ben sat in my chair, dressed in sweatpants and a tshirt. He smiled and waved with his fingertips as I shuffled into my bedroom and closed the door.

“Hello, Rey,” he said. He motioned to the window. “Miserable night, isn’t it?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

I circled around him to my dresser to pick out my pajamas, and he circled around in his chair. His eyes bored into my back while I tried to find something not ratty and old. It didn’t matter. He’d be gone soon and as far as I knew, he couldn’t see me.

But that didn’t mean I needed to look unkempt and weird. I could look… put together.

Ben vanished when I turned. I frowned, hoping he wasn’t already gone for the night.

“Sorry,” came his disembodied voice. “Just giving you some privacy.”

“Oh—right. Thanks.” I palmed my pajamas, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m going to take a shower anyway so I’ll be right back after. If you’re still around.”

“Have been for more than one hundred twenty years, Rey.”

Funny, too. I smiled and hurried from my bedroom down the hall to the bathroom.

Ben was much nicer than Kylo; not creepy or gross at all. I stripped out of my clothes and paused to look around the bathroom, listening to the water run. Not creepy. He wouldn’t come in here to watch me.

Shivering, I stepped under the spray, secretly thrilled at the thought. Wouldn’t that be crazy as hell?

I found Ben standing before my rainy window when I came back. He turned a bit to smile as I shut the door and crept into my bed. I didn’t have any more questions. Well, I _did, _but I was afraid it would be rude to ask them. Marriage, kids… Maybe his wife passed away tragically.

He peered outside. “Awful wet this summer. I’ve been watching the seasons change for so long that they usually blend together—but it’s wet.”

I laughed, crawling under the covers. The house wasn’t insulated well and I could feel the damp chill from outside. Ben exuded cold, too.

“We’re going to talk about the weather?” I teased. “Live human and nineteenth century ghost?”

“Absurd, isn’t it?” He ambled to the desk chair, hands in his pockets, and nodded toward me. “Normally I leave the tenants be, but… Kylo likes you, and i was afraid he might hurt you. Now I’m just here for the stimulating conversation about the weather.”

I shook my head and laughed again. Ben watched me as he leaned back in the chair, still smiling.

“It _does _rain here a lot,” I acquiesced. “And the house is always cold.”

“Yeah, that’s the shitty insulation, and I’m sure it has something to do with Kylo sucking out the warmth.”

“…He does that?”

Ben shrugged. “There’s a lot he can do, but he uses heat like a snake, I think. I’m still trying to figure him out after an entire century of living together. Mysterious guy. Not sure if he can go back to wherever he’s from.”

Huh. I read ghosts could drop the temperature in rooms but nothing about demons doing the same. Of course, it wasn’t an exact science.

I tugged my hair over one shoulder, clearing my throat. “So where were you from originally?”

“New York City, if you can believe it. I came here for the quiet and to help the kids. Came down with consumption from one of the little brats.”

“Yikes,” I laughed. “We have antibiotics for that stuff now.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen them.” Ben touched a pencil in the desk cup, and his hand passed through, but the pencil rattled. “I watch a lot of television and read when I can, but I can’t touch anything or stay here for long until the moon is at least half gone.”

“Right. That’s annoying.”

He nodded, still tapping the pencil. “Sure is—so why don’t you tell me more about you, Rey?”

About me. Hm.

As much as I insisted that I had nothing to say, Ben wheedled until I regaled him with my sob story. Being a ghost had to be boring because he listened for over an hour, right up to when the lights flickered and his body wavered in the darkness.

He’d smile, nod along. He didn’t even look bored and asked questions every once in a while.

I winced as he began to disappear. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to waste your time.”

“Don’t be sorry. I have forever, y’know.” Ben rose from the chair even as his body faded. “I’ll come by tomorrow night if you want to talk more—tell me about Poe Dameron.”

“W-Well… well…”

He laughed and shook his head, ambling toward my door. I wrung my hands under the covers.

“He’s a funny kid,” Ben called. “Used to smash the windows. If you want to talk more tomorrow, just be in your bedroom around eight.”

I nodded. He waved and passed through the closed door without another word.

Silence fell heavy in my bedroom. I swallowed and gazed out the window into the rain storm lashing against the glass, then shuffled under my covers, shivering.

Perfect night to sleep: cold, dark, and rainy—and I didn’t have to worry about Ben invading my privacy like Kylo always did.

I smiled into my pillow. Ben seemed nice.


End file.
